1753hrs

Listening to: Damien Rice - Cannonball


A delightful film that fans of Harry Potter, physical humour and all things just a little this side of irreverent will enjoy:



Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2004)

The story is simple: The Baudelaire children are three gifted young 'uns, each with a unique ability. One's a brilliant inventor, one remembers everything he's ever read, and one, well, likes to bite stuff. :X

 

Here are the kids! I'll leave you to guess who's who, haha. Anyway, great misfortune befalls them one day when their mansion burns down, killing their parents tragically. As such, Mr Poe (the guy in the bowler hat), the executor of the Baudelaires' estate, places the kids in the guardianship of their closest relative...



... Count Olaf! (played brilliantly by Jim Carrey) Now, Count Olaf is an actor of sorts and also a bit crazy. All he wants out of the children is their enormous inheritance... and he will stop at nothing (and I mean really nothing) to get to it! :O



The two young actors playing Violet (Emily Browning) and Klaus (Liam Aiken) are very mature and hold their own up against the amazing Jim Carrey, who has really outdone himself this time. Think the type of humour from "The Mask", but less crude. To think the last film of his I saw was "Eternal Sunshine..."; what a huge difference!

Oh yeah... I must also say that Emily Browning is damn chio mannn. Woot! (8)



Special mention goes out to Meryl Streep, who plays one of the children's later guardians who is supremely paranoid about everything and is also a grammar geek! According to her, it should be "Naomi and me", pris! ;)



Besides the obvious laughs created by Jim Carrey and the little girl who plays the youngest Boudelaire, I really liked the feel of this film. It's quite timeless - I have absolutely no idea where or when the film is set. Oh and the skies are always surreal looking, like this one.

Finally, why the title and who is Lemony Snicket? Well, he's the guy who is narrating the film (voiced by Jude Law, who is really in every damn film as Chris Rock said at the Oscars, lol), and as for the series of unfortunate events... go catch the film to find out! :)

Lester's rating: 4.5/5 stars!

1215hrs

Listening to: Liang Jing Ru - Yi Ye Zhang Da


We got the tix for this around Christmas last year... that's how long we've been anticipating:



Yep! Liang Jingru's (I refuse to call her by her ridiculous English name) first concert in Singapore. I've been listening to her since my army days... many a lonely night (sniff), it was her sweet clear voice that soothed me to sleep.

Prelude: Traffic was fairly clear, no huge jams going to the stadium or even entering the venue. At one point I said: "Is the concert today?"

We reached at 8pm on the dot, but the stadium was less than half full. Singaporeans are really terrible... think wedding dinner ah? And not like it's a weekday. So the concert only started at 8.30pm, to a full house.



Intro: The stadium lights dimmed, and a white screen covering the stage was released to reveal Jingru high above with a pair of butterfly wings. (Please use your imagination a bit, haha.) The opening song was "Yan Wei Die", probably the only rock song she has.



Programme: It's quite obvious that Jingru has become much prettier and slimmer in recent years... must be the Cenosis sponsorship, haha.

After the rocking intro, it was love song after love song after love song... all her hits from "Ai Ni Bu Shi Liang San Tian" to "Fen Shou Kuai Le" to, of course, "Yong Qi".

Her voice is really, really good... it's so clear it sends shivers down my spine (I mean that in a good way). And it held throughout the concert, with only one discernable wobbly note. Impressive. (y) A few surprises were thrown in as well, like a snippet of "I Should Be So Lucky" (not bad her English) and a medley of Oriental-sounding songs like Jay Chou's "Dong Feng Po".

However, I was disappointed that although the concert lasted for a whopping three and a half hours, she did not perform two of my favourites: "Zui Kuai Le Na Yi Nian" (influenced by fiona, haha), and my all-time favourite non-hit, "Wo He Zi Ji De Yue Hui".



Accompaniment: The six-piece band was very tight and everything sounded just like on a CD! There were also a few extras like this lady on a sitar-looking Chinese instrument, and also a Singaporean string quartet!

Guests: Two of them, Jaycee Chan (Jackie's boy) and Emil Chau. Jaycee didn't leave much of an impression, though I correctly guessed that he would duet with Jingru on "Zai Wo Sheng Ming Zhong De Mei Yi Tian" (damn old-school, this).

Emil was a much better guest, very seasoned and comfortable with the audience even though it wasn't his concert. He, together with Jingru, carried out a very long sideshow of two guys proposing to their girlfriends live. That was kinda a letdown, the girls weren't surprised one lor haha. But everyone said yes and there were hugs and kisses all around and everyone was happy.

Crowd: very well-behaved, most of the audience were above the age of 21. The lightsticks were spread out evenly around the stadium (though cylum sticks are going out of fashion I think, now the battery-powered ones are more popular), but no standing up and screaming like at Mayday's concert, heh.

Encore: We thought there wouldn't be any, 'cos it was already 11.30pm and she had already performed "Yong Qi". But Jingru still had a few songs left in her, and those were her first hits "Dui Bu Qi, Wo Ai Ni" and "Yi Ye Zhang Da" (my favourite leh yay). There was also a very poignant tribute to her late father, and she made every word of the oldie "Zhang Sheng Xiang Qi" sound so meaningful and heartfelt. A few people were seen dabbing their eyes with tissue after this.

Postscript: Definitely worth waiting for and I enjoyed the concert very much. A word of thanks to my sponsor of course :)

1405hrs

Listening to: Liang Jing Ru - Fly Away


Last night at the Traders Hotel:



The Nanyang Chronicle celebrates its 10th anniversary in print! The whole feeling was a bit like prom night, with lots of photo taking. There are too many pictures to post, so here're just a few random ones.



That's me and Sharon. :)



The VIPs (front row) and the chief editors past and present (back row). I can't remember who made us do this stupid pose though.



The future of Chron, from 2005 to beyond.



And after the whole shindig, it's time to put on your dancing shoes and party! Guess whose feet? :P


I'd post more pictures but I don't wanna disappoint anyone 'cos he/she didn't get hucked, haha. And so, I strongly recommend that you click here for the rest of the night's pictures. :)

Tonight: Liang Jing Ru concert! Yay!

0908hrs

Listening to: Elton John - Your Song

From the soon-to-be not free anymore *boo! BOO!!!* STI website: "Three students collapse during school run - one in ICU"

It must have been quite a sight, 4,500 boys and girls (okay, mostly boys... poor girls) pounding the old Bukit Timah race track in the hot sun. But besides that, what on earth was the event organiser thinking? (I mean, I'm sure a world-class Institution would employ such a person among their midst!)

Who has gruelling cross-country races conducted in the afternoon anyway! When I was in college, our annual runs were held early in the morning at East Coast Park... shiok man. Haha.

Anyways, funny quote from the school Institution's principal chief executive officer (damn, this takes getting used to!): "All the students were also told before the run that they should stop if they feel tired."

Yeah, even though the race route only spans a girlie 3.6km, if everyone did that then maybe 20 super boys and girls who don't feel tired after running would complete the race! Or maybe that's how they make 'em at the Institution...

0144hrs

Listening to: Paul Weller - Wishing On A Star


For those of you who don't know agent s. well, here's a fact about her: she's really, really into dolls. Anyway, she's got a Visual Communication assignment due this weekend and needed to take a series of photos... so of course she got her doll to be the main character. How original right. :X

(The following photos are all by me though. She used much better ones for the assignment haha. :P)



This is not the latest condo in town... it's the new National Library! My God it looks damn stylo lah. Can't wait for it to open! :O



Okay, this handsome bloke is called shin. The one on the right I mean. Haha! :P

Just a little (of what I know) about him (it's a boy doll, hoho)... he's directly imported from Japan through this shop in Clarke Quay, and was custom-made to suit his owner's needs preferences. And he costs about 1% of the total gross domestic product of Vanuatu!



As our friend hails from Japan, he can't really understand English well. Moments after this photo was taken, the Esplanade security personnel had to come up to dissuade him from doing anything stupid. Was a really funny moment somehow!



After the embarrassing encounter, he decides to go to Raffles Place. He was told by the locals that this is the best place to soak up the atmosphere of urban Singapore -  lots of office workers, foreign workers, cheap eating places and stupid gimmicks all around!



But first, to catch up on the daily news. Someone call the TNP hotline, we found their smallest reader! ;)



When in Rome, do as the Romans, apparently. This is my favourite shot, hahaha. :X

0848hrs

Listening to: The Cranberries - Linger


Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia (what is "wiki" then? hmmm) has a fairly lengthy entry on my alma mater (now there's a phrase that always sounded funny to me) that made me laugh out loud. At the same time, I wonder what has happened to the school since I left it more than seven years ago.

Some choice observations:

1) "It is quite a widely held opinion of many that the pupils of Victoria School used to be on par with the sudents [sic] of Singapore's top school, Raffles Institution, in both academic and sporting fields, up till the late 1980's."

Haha really meh?

2) "Unfortunately it could not attain independent status in the early 1990s... this, coupled with what was deemed 'poor leadership' by some in the school, has led to a fall in the Ministry of Education rankings table for 'O' Level results from the mid-1990s."

Hoho you got that right!

3) "Students who enter VS are of a relatively high calibre, but it has often been said that this pedigree fails to translate into good GCE Ordinary Level grades."

Wah piang sounds like me lor. :$

4) "For two years (2002-2003), English Literature was not offered at GCE 'O' Level."

What the...?! My poor Lit teacher. Geography too popular among muggers liao, obviously.

5) "There are rumours that Victoria School will go co-ed in 2006. Old Boys tend to oppose this move, even in the past."

Don't want lah! Like totally weird? The school should remain all-boys... then they will appreciate girls better in JC! Hahaha. :P


Which schools were you from? See if Wikipedia has an entry! Heheh. :)

0045hrs

Listening to: Britney Spears - Do Something


There's something about this very catchy, very camp song that makes it really listenable. Though I'm (almost) embarrassed to admit I like it. Haha. ;)

Anyways, here's a fun quiz to test how powderful your English is: the Commonly Confused Words Test!

By the way, my score is:
You scored 87% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 61% Expert!

Heheh. :)